We continue to invest in strengthening our sales operations and in new products and services for our customers and these investments have materially improved our sales pipeline which supports our medium term aim of growing revenues by an average of around 4-6% per annum. Our well established productivity programme provides increased confidence in the Group’s ability to deliver recurring operating and financing efficiencies of £90 million to £100 million by 2020. We believe that this combination of investment, growth and productivity will deliver strong growth in the Group’s earningsa and operating cash flow.”

Operational and financial highlights:

Sales pipeline: £7.0 billion annual contract value

Revenue +6.2%a with growth across all regions except Middle East & India

Operating cash flowa,c £192 million (2016: £277 million); weighted to H2 2017 in line with guidance

Net debt to EBITDA improved to 2.7x (30 June 2016: 3.3x); expect 2.5x or lower by year end

a Results from continuing businesses, presented at constant exchange rates other than for operating cash flow, exclude results from businesses identified for sale or closure and onerous contracts. The basis of preparation of results of continuing businesses and an explanation of Alternative Performance Measures is on page 3.

Our strategy addresses the positive, global demand outlook for security services and our enduring strategic aim is to demonstrate the values and performance that make G4S the company of choice for customers, employees and shareholders. We aim to do this by designing innovative solutions, by delivering outstanding service to our customers, by providing engaging and rewarding work for employees and by generating sustainable growth in returns for our shareholders. These aims are underpinned by the key programmes in our strategic plan:

People and Values

Growth and Innovation

Customer Service Excellence

Productivity and Operational Excellence

Financial and Commercial Discipline

The Group has two business segments: Secure Solutions and Cash Solutions. Security and safety are critical to our success in both segments.

Secure Solutions: we design, market and deliver a wide range of security and related services and our global business provides valuable access to a highly diversified customer base in markets around the world. Our security services range from static manned security to highly sophisticated, integrated solutions. Our scale and focus on productivity supports our cost competitiveness and our sustained investment in professional staff, technology, software and systems enables us to provide valuable and integrated solutions for our customers.

Cash Solutions: we transport, process, recycle, securely store and manage cash and we provide secure international logistics for cash and valuables. We invest in technology and know-how and develop and sell proprietary cash management systems which combine skilled professionals with software, hardware and operational support in an integrated managed service. We operate around the globe, focussing on markets where we are able to build and sustain a material market share in our key service offerings.
G4S’s investment proposition is to deliver sustainable growth in earnings, cash flows and dividends.

Outlook

G4S Group Chief Executive Officer, Ashley Almanza, commented:

We continued to make substantial progress with G4S’s transformation and this provides increased confidence in the Group’s prospects.

The scale and quality of our pipeline is materially improved and this, together with our on-going investment in sales operations and new products and services, provides stronger support for our organic growth plans. During the second half of 2017, our growth programme will focus on consolidating contract wins made over the past year and on converting attractive opportunities in our pipeline. We expect full year revenue growth in 2017 to be broadly in line with our medium term aim of 4-6% and we anticipate continued growth in 2018.

We have a well-established productivity programme which we believe will deliver recurring operating and financing efficiencies of £90 million to £100 million by 2020. Depending on the scale and quality of new organic growth opportunities, a portion of the productivity gains will be re-invested in growth.
We have a stronger balance sheet and with a continued focus on cash flow we are on track to reach net debt/EBITDA of 2.5x or lower by the year end.

We believe that the combination of investment, growth and productivity that underpins our plans will deliver strong growth in the Group’s earningsa and operating cash flow.”

G4S plc will be holding its 2017 Half Year Results Presentation to institutional investors and analysts on Wednesday 9th August at 09.00am UK time.

There will also be a video webcast and telephone dial in facility of the presentation on the day. To register for the webcast please paste the link below into your browser and follow the on-screen instructions.

ABOUT G4S

G4S is the leading global, integrated security company, specialising in the provision of security services and solutions to customers. Our mission is to create material, sustainable value for our customers and shareholders by being the supply partner of choice in all our markets.

G4S is quoted on the London Stock Exchange and has a secondary stock exchange listing in Copenhagen. G4S is active in around 100 countries and has over 585,000 employees.